Nelson Technical Service
Custom Hardware and Software

Providing Solutions Since 1982

Frequently Asked Questions

This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and are presented here as questions.
 

• How many names can the program handle?
• How many users can run the program at one time?
• What is this "127.0.0.1" address that is used by default?
• What is a "port number" and why is "33333" used by default?
• How long does it take to install the programs?
• Can really large companies use this program?
• How much does the program cost?

How many names can the program handle?

There are presently 2 variations of the program.  One can handle up to 150 employee names.  They are organized as 10 pages or work groups of 15 names each.  The second variation can handle up to 160 employees names.  They are organized as 8 pages of 20 names each.

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How many users can run the program at one time?

Version 2.0 of the program allows up to 100 users to be running the program at one time.  Most users only need to start the program, log themselves in or out, and then stop the program.  Secretaries and receptionists may want to keep the program running all the time.

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What is the 127.0.0.1 address that is used by default?

The address 127.0.0.1 is a special reserved address that allows a TCP/IP networked computer to talk to itself.  It is the "loopback" address.  After you test the software on one PC and want to set it up on a network, the network administrator would assign real address values for your network.

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What is a "port number" and why is "33333" used by default?

Each network connection on a PC must have a unique TCP/IP address.  It is the number that looks like "192.168.23.145".  In order to allow that connection to share information with several computers at the same time, each connection also has a unique port number.  Standard port numbers are assigned to common protocols by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority - IANA.  For a user running Sign-In-Out to establish a connection with a server, the program must know the TCP/IP address of the server and it must call on a specific port.  The port number "33333" is an unassigned port number and should work in most cases.  An analogy to this scheme would be to call an office and ask for a specific extension.  The telephone number would be the TCP/IP address and the port number would be the extension number.  Sign-In-Out used to use a port number of "1001".  It turns out that some anti-virus programs identify this port as a threat.  This was one of the reasons the port number was changed to "33333".

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How long does it take to install the programs?

That's always a hard question to answer.  Every installation  is different.  The client program is very easy to install.  It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes.  The server isn't hard to install, but it must be configured after it's installed.  A simple configuration with 15 or less employee names in just one work group may take 5 or 10 minutes.  Entering data for the "information notes" can take a while if you enter 4 data fields for each of the possible 150 or 160 employees.

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Can really large companies use this program?

Maybe.  The basic limitations of 160 employee names and up to 100 simultaneous users would keep it from being used in really large companies.  The program does not recognize time zones, so a large company would have problems unless they all operated on one standard time.  A central server could run multiple copies of the server program and use different port numbers to handle more than 100 users at one time, but information would not be shared between the multiple server programs.  Running more than one copy of the server program would require additional registrations.  Please email "sales" at this website with any questions about special versions.

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How much does the program cost?

For the latest information about registering Sign-In-Out click here > Registration Information

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